I wasn't actually hungry, I just wanted to see you
by West-Coast-Waters-Canada
Summary: Seeking a friend (and maybe some AC) on a hot summer's day, Adrien finds himself at the bakery of his friend Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Two-shot. Original prompt given by @thelastpilot: "Alright I'll be straight up with you I don't want anything to eat I just wanted to see you"
1. Chapter 1

The sun burned the back of Adrien Agreste's neck as he walked through the streets. A swell if hot air blew against his face, bringing no relief from the summer heat. 'A cool breeze is probably too much to ask for,' Adrien thought, considering the record breaking temperatures Paris was currently experiencing. The park he now walked past was devoid of people; everyone had likely retreated to their air conditioned homes. Even the bird song which normally filled the air was lost with the weather.

Finding himself with a day free of photo shoots, piano, and even fencing, which was on hold until the end of summer break, Adrien had thought a walk would be a nice way to spend his time. As he trudged down the sidewalk now, he decided that his bright idea hadn't been so bright. Sweat made the fabric of his shirt cling uncomfortably to his back, and for reasons beyond himself, Adrien hadn't thought to swap his tight jeans for shorts. It was still early morning, not even noon, and the day was only going to get warmer.

Plagg wasn't taking the heat well, either. He'd fallen asleep in Adrien's shirt as soon as they left the house and hadn't made a sound since. Adrien could feel the small body against his chest, the kwami's breath warm against his shirt. How he wasn't suffocating in there, Adrien wasn't sure.

He'd turned himself back in the direction of his home some blocks ago, but it seemed to Adrien that the distance only grew farther. He wished he had chosen another way to fill his day, but with Nino out of town for the week, his options were limited. He didn't have many other people to spend his time with. Chloe would be more than willing if he asked, but the idea didn't really appeal to him today.

Adrien forced his legs to keep moving forward as another breeze swept across his face, this time bringing with it a smell that stopped him in his tracks and made his mouth water. The smell of something baking… Bread, Adrien guessed. The fragrance was dancing through the air. Looking ahead, Adrien noticed that his walk had led him to the Dupain-Cheng Bakery.

'The heat must be really getting to me. I didn't realize what neighbourhood I was in…' Adrien thought to himself. He'd been to the bakery Marinette's parents ran a few times. Though he had been there as Chat Noir for a number of them…

'I wonder if she's home?'

It wouldn't be weird to go in and say hi, would it? Marinette knew that he had been over at least once, so it wouldn't be strange for him to know where she lived. He wasn't very close with her, but felt that their friendship had grown stronger recently. What if she was busy though? He didn't want to get in the way of her work.

He could make it a quick visit if needed. Going in to say hi would be no problem, Adrien reasoned with himself, and seeing a familiar face right now would improve his day greatly.

Swiping his hand across his sweaty forehead, Adrien couldn't help but thinking:

'And they just might have air conditioning…'

* * *

The blast of cold air that met Adrien as he opened the door to the bakery was colder than he could have hoped for, and he let out a pleased sigh. He could practically feel the energy returning to his heat exhausted body. His nerves came to life under his skin as the cool air wrapped around his body, and with it came the overwhelming smell of what was definitely baking bread. Stepping over the threshold, Adrien smiled and let the door swing shut behind him, a bell chiming his entrance.

There were no customers in the bakery, the counter also abandoned of staff, but a call from the back room alerted him to another person. A quick shout of "Hello! I'll be out in just a minute!" came from a voice Adrien immediately recognized as Marinette's.

"No rush!" Adrien shouted back, wondering if she too would be able to recognize a familiar voice.

The clatter of what sounded like a falling baking pan answered him, as well as a strangled gasp, then a muttered curse.

Adrien walked quickly over to the counter and leaned over it as far as he could. "Uh, you alri…?"

He stopped mid question as Marinette abruptly popped out of the doorway, eyes frantically searching the bakery before finally landing on Adrien. She looked confused for a moment, as though she still wasn't seeing him despite standing right in front of him.

"S-sorry. I thought you were someone else…" Marinette muttered.

Before Adrien could respond, Marinette seemed to come back to herself, and a blush rose in her cheeks.

"Adrien! Um… Welcome to the bakery! Or, I guess you've been here before, but, welcome back! Um, as a customer this time! Yeah." Marinette rushed quickly through her words.

"Yeah, kind of… Are you alright? It sounded like you fell back there." Adrien questioned.

A blank look crossed Marinette's face as though she didn't understand his question, before she quickly whipped her head back to look into the room. She turned back to Adrien with a sheepish look.

"I'm fine! I just knocked over a mixing bowl, which knocked down a few other things… Luckily they were all empty." Marinette answered brightly. "Um… Are you alright out here for a minute while I go clean them up?"

"Sure, no problem. I'll just look around at the displays." Adrien replied.

With a small smile, Marinette dashed into the back room once more. Adrien turned away from the front counter and moved slowly around the room, looking in display cases as he went.

The first case he looked into was filled with a delicious looking array of macaroons, all stacked and sorted by colour. Decorative accessories had been added to attract the eyes of customers, and Adrien was no exception to its ability.

The next display was much larger, both in a case and on top of the counter. Baskets of bread overflowed and made Adrien's mouth water from the scent. This time, the baked goods were decorated with a classic red and white checkered picnic blanket lining the bottom of the glass.

The next two displays held sweets that Adrien had no name for, but they all managed to make him more and more hungry anyway. Chocolate was drizzled over what looked like some kind of cake; Jam was spread across what could have been a sweet tart.

Adrien turned to a case full of muffins when his stomach let out a loud growl, and a quiet laugh behind him had him turning to see Marinette back in the room.

Adrien scratched the back of his neck and laughed along with her.  
"I guess being in here has made me hungry. Or maybe I already was and didn't realize. Everything looks great!"

Marinette smiled and walked to where he stood. "A…Are you looking at anything particular? If you like those muffins, I'd recommend the cinnamon ones in the back corner, they're my favourite," Marinette explained.

"Oh, sure! If you recommend it then it must be good," Adrien smiled. "I hadn't been planning on buying anything, but in a place like this it's pretty hard to resist, huh?" He asked Marinette.

Marinette nodded with a little affirmative "Mhm!" and moved behind the counter to grab the muffin. Putting it in a paper bag, Mari walked around to the register, Adrien following behind, his stomach making another loud groan.

Marinette looked at Adrien with a confused expression. "If your that hungry, why weren't you planning on buying anything?" She questioned.

Adrien pulled out his wallet, handing her some coins as he answered. "Well… When I came in, I wasn't actually hungry. Honestly I… Just wanted to see you. I hope that's okay." He smiled.

Marinette made a small noise in front of him and dropped the money he'd handed her onto the counter. Adrien watched as her face grew pink, then very quickly red.

Had he said something wrong? Clearly she thought it was weird that he came to see her. Was she angry? She looked kinda angry… Or maybe embarrassed. Either way he'd done something wrong. He needed to say something, something to make her calm down and –

"Th-Thank you!"

…

'What?'

That wasn't what he'd expected.

Marinette looked about ready to explode in front of him, but she had a happy looking smile on her face.

"I- Uh. I mean… Thank you for coming! To see me, I mean. That was nice of you. I wanted to see you too! Or ah…I'm happy that I did see you!"

Adrien let out a breath of air he hadn't realized he was holding. He honestly didn't know what he would have done to fix the problem, so he was beyond relieved to find there wasn't one. She wasn't mad at him. In fact, she looked very happy. The blush on her face had even lessened.

"I'm glad! I was worried the bakery would be busy when I came, but I guess I'm not the only one bothered by the weather. The AC in here is like heaven though." Adrien laughed.

"Well, feel free to stay and enjoy it as long as you'd like!" Marinette spoke while finally getting the money into the register. Her deep blush was back with full force, and her smile seemed to freeze as she took in her own words, but she didn't stumble to correct herself this time.

Adrien grinned from ear to ear. "Great! I wasn't looking forward to going back out there yet. How about I stay and eat this muffin, then head out?"

Marinette was still stiff behind the counter, her gaze on anything but Adrien. With a small voice, she managed to answer. "Sounds good."

Adrien smiled and pulled the cinnamon muffin out of the paper bag. Taking it in both hands, he pulled the muffin into two piece and handed one half to Marinette. "Wanna share? You said they were your favourite." Adrien gave Marinette his best smile, hoping it would put her at ease.

Reaching out with a small, slender hand, Marinette took the muffin piece from Adrien. "Thank you"

"No problem." Adrien took a bite of his muffin, flavor dancing across his tongue. "This is amazing!"

"I told you so. I'm glad you like it."

"I love it! I need to get these more often"

Marinette laughed. "We bake them fresh every morning."

Adrien swallowed his last piece. "I'll have to come by more often then." He turned his head to look at Marinette. "Would that be okay?"

Marinette lifted his eyes from the counter, finally letting them settle on the blond. His face was close to hers, and his green eyes looked expectant for an answer. She smiled.

"I'd like that."


	2. Chapter 2

Hey guys! This story was only meant to be a one-shot, but a few people expressed interest in a second chapter, so here it is! This will be the final chapter :) Thanks for reading!

* * *

Last week's heat wave had broken temperature records in Paris, according to the weather news Adrien had seen as he flicked through the channels on his large tv screen. While it was cooler today than it had been then, the heat still rolled through the streets, keeping many people either indoors or at the Paris-Plages along the river Seine.

Splayed across his bed with only a pair of shorts and a thin, white t-shirt on, Adrien cursed against his day's plans.

Nino had returned to the city the previous day, asking Adrien in a text message to meet up the following afternoon. It had really killed Adrien's mood when he had to tell Nino about his photo shoot scheduled in the park for the same time.

Adrien huffed and shut off his tv, throwing the remote to the end of the bed. Even in his air conditioned home he felt too hot, and he was expected to do a photo shoot in this weather? It would take at least an hour, two tops, to complete. Just the thought of it was enough to make Adrien sweat, his only saving grace being that he'd be modelling his fathers late-summer line, which meant wearing nothing too stuffy.

The time on Adrien phone read 11:05am as he raised the device in his hand, checking for any messages that could possibly give him a reason to have to cancel on the photographer. His inbox showed him a traitorous zero texts, and the phone quickly joined the tv remote at the foot of Adrien's bed.

Adrien rolled himself off of his blankets, feeling his shirt stick to his back as he stood, and hearing a squeak of protest from behind him.

He gasped as Plagg zoomed in front of his face. "You just crushed me! Watch where you roll, Adrien!" Plagg yelled.

Adrien had completely forgotten the small kwami on the bed beside him, thoughts muddled by heat. "Sorry, Plagg! Forgot you were there. It's easy to miss you when you're so tiny." Adrien laughed.

"What?! Tiny! You're gonna have to give me a _looot_ of Camembert to make up for that one."

"Fine, fine. You can have all the cheese you like. Listen, I'm gonna take a shower and then we're heading to the park for the shoot, alright? Make yourself comfy in my bag while I'm gone." Adrien said, heading towards his on suite bathroom, leaving the kwami floating beside the bed.

Plagg looked over at the bag that hung from Adrien's door, a grumpy look growing across his face. "It's like a million degrees out," Plagg spoke to himself. "How am I supposed to be comfy in a bag?"

* * *

Adrien shoved a plastic bag with his lunch into his white school bag before alerting the Gorilla and Natalie that he was ready to go. The three of them, plus the kwami inside Adrien's bag, got into the white limo and headed for the park. A short drive later and they were there, climbing out of the car and into the heat of the great outdoors.

Once again Adrien noted the lack of civilians in the park, but at least the birds seemed to be back, the sound of their chirping filling the air. Over by the fountain stood his camera crew, setting up there like they had done many times before. He wondered why his father scheduled so many shoots in the same location, but ultimately decided it wasn't important enough to wonder about.

Adrien was already wearing the first outfit for the shoot. A pair of grey, drawstring shorts reached to the top of his knees, with matching material on his shoes. Then a white tank top with a red stripe across the chest and black stripes running parallel underneath down to the hem line. On his head were a pair of dark sunglasses, the Agreste symbol showing on the side of the frame.

He walked over to the equipment stored to the side, trying to be discreet about pressing his ear to the side of his bag to check on Plagg. He could hear the kwami munching on something, presumably cheese, and smiled as he placed his bag on the ground with everyone's stuff.

Adrien had to model a total of eight different outfits that day. Four outfits, a break for lunch, then four more. Not so bad, Adrien had thought to himself. He'd had longer shoots before. It would probably go quicker than he had expected.

He walked over to the crew, watching his makeup artist flag him over with a wave of their hand. Adrien smiled lightly to himself. _'Maybe it won't be so bad.'_

* * *

How wrong he'd been.

Adrien hadn't noticed exactly who his photographer was that day until the shoot had began. He remembered the man from a shoot he'd done for his father's winter line the previous year. Never satisfied with Adrien's poses or facial expression, never happy about the lighting, and an all around long, aggravating experience.

Probably the pickiest photographer Adrien had ever worked with, and he had to be stuck with him today, modelling outside, in this heat. Did he have to have bad luck _all_ the time?

It had taken them nearly two hours to get through the first three outfits, outfit number four's time just finally coming to a close. He let out a long breath when the man finally called for break, and Adrien headed off to have his lunch.

His took his bag with him to one of the empty park benches away from the crew, where he could eat in peace and not worry about Plagg being seen.

Adrien sat down and flipped open his bag to grab... Nothing.

It was empty.

Except for one fat, black kwami.

Adrien scowled. "Plagg! What did you do with my lunch? You didn't seriously eat it, did you? There wasn't even any cheese!"

Plagg let out a small yawn as he looked up at Adrien, a catty smirk on his face. "I _told_ you that you'd owe me a lot of Camembert for the 'tiny' comment." Plagg practically purred.

"How does eating my lunch get you Camembert? There wasn't any of it in there." Adrien was angry. The photographer had put him on edge, and knowing that he wouldn't even be able to enjoy his lunch didn't help matters.

"I took it out" Plagg answered.

"Took what out?"

"Your lunch. And replaced it with cheese."

Adrien couldn't believe what he was hearing. "...You what."

"I said-"

"I'm never buying you Camembert again."

"What? Come on, don't say that! This is a good thing, I've given you a golden opportunity!"

Now Adrien was just confused. Clearly the kwami was just trying to get out of trouble. "What opportunity? To see how long I can deal with that guy in an empty stomach?"

Plagg rolled his eyes. "No you idiot! Think about where we are. Isn't there a bakery near by that you like? You mentioned it last week."

It was like a light went on in Adrien's head, eyes flicking up to look across the park towards the bakery across the street. This _was_ a good opportunity. He could get another one of those muffins, or maybe try something new.

And he could see Marinette. She'd lifted his down mood last time, hadn't she? If he ever need some cheering, now would be a pretty good time.

Adrien smiled down at Plagg. "You're right, let's go check it out." He swung his bag over his shoulder, heading across the park and letting Natalie know he'd be back shortly.

Plagg zoomed out of the bag to sit in Adrien's shoulder. "I bet they've got cheese there. A cheese bun would be great, don't you think?"

Adrien looked to the side with a small glare. "No cheese for you, you've had enough, clearly. And I know you didn't do that to give me this. There's no fooling me, you're just trying to save your own fur."

Plagg's ears dropped, but he laughed as he said, "I mean ya fine I lied but **_still_** it all worked out..."

* * *

Marinette looked up from her sketch book with a pencil in hand when she heard the bakery door chime, and in the doorway stood Adrien. She pulled in a sharp breath and felt her heart speed up instantly, her cheeks growing hot to top it all off.

Adrien smiled when he saw her behind the counter, bring his hand up in a wave as he walked towards her, the door swinging shut behind him.

"Hey, Marinette! How's it going?" Adrien asked as he stopped in front of the girl.

Marinette realized that she had let her mouth fall open slightly, and snapped it shut at Adrien's questioning look. Later, Marinette would pat herself on the back for not stumbling over her greeting. "Hi, Adrien! Welcome back! Going a bit slow here, but we've had more business than the last time you came. We only had two customers that day, besides yourself."

Adrien laughed, the sound making Marinette smile.

"Only three people for the whole day? That's crazy. Who could resist this place? Great food, greater people; a little heat shouldn't stop them." Adrien said in a teasing voice.

Marinette felt her chest swell with happiness at the comment, though Adrien didn't appear to realize exactly what he'd said.

She closed her sketch book on the counter in front of her, pushing it and the pencil to the side, giving Adrien her full attention. "Happy to hear it! So, uh, what brings you in today? Long walk make you over heat again?"

The last time Adrien had come to the bakery - and shared a cinnamon muffin with Marinette - he'd stayed for an hour after they'd finished eating, the two of them getting swept up in conversation. He'd told her about Nino leaving town and his decision to take a "relaxing walk" as a way of spending his day. He then thanked her vehemently for having the greatest AC system he'd ever felt.

Adrien grinned at her question. "Nah, not today. I almost wish that were the reason though," he huffed.

"Why's that?" Marinette asked, one eyebrow raised with curiosity.

Adrien leaned against the counter, his left arm resting on the cool surface, bringing his face closer to Marinette's, she couldn't help noticing.

"I'm just on break right now, but I'm in the middle of a photo shoot in the park outside. And it is taking _forever_. I've already been stuck there for the past two hours, and I'm probably looking at two more." Adrien frowned as he finished speaking.

Marinette frowned with him, resisting the urge to reach across the counter and give him a comforting hug. She settled for placing her right hand on his shoulder. "Sorry to hear that, but at least you're halfway through, right? And who knows, it could be faster than the first half."

Adrien smiled at her. "I like your confidence. I've just gotta hope you're right."

Marinette removed her hand from his shoulder, smiling encouraging at his renewed motivation. "Well, if there's anything else I can do to help, just let me know! I'm not off my shift for another hour, but if you want to grab anything to eat while you're here..."

Adrien made a face as though he'd just remember something. "That would be great! If you have something you'd recommend, that would be a big help!"

"Alright, I'll see what I can find!" Marinette declared. "Give me one sec, I'll go check the back and see if my dad's made anything fresh."

She turned towards the backroom, but found the entrance blocked as the man himself, her father, stepped out into the front, a tray of warm croissants held in both hands.

"Did someone say fresh?" Tom Dupain asked with a chuckle.

Marinette smiled. "That's perfect, dad! Do you like croissants, Adrien?"

Adrien looked beyond happy. "I love them! That would be perfect."

Tom put the tray down and took off his oven mitts. "They're cheese croissants, just so you know. Hope that's okay."

Marinette thought she saw Adrien twitch, eyes rolling slightly as though he'd just been told a bad joke, but his smile still held.

"Still sounds great to me." Adrien smiled.

"Perfect! I've gotta get back to baking, but I'll leave the tray here. Can you bring the rest back once you're done here, Mari?" Tom asked his daughter.

She nodded. "Yup! Thanks, dad."

Marinette watched as her dad left the room, turning back to face Adrien after Tom had gone. "Just the croissant, then?"

Adrien opened his mouth to answer, but closed it as he twitched slightly, as though someone had poked him. Marinette that she heard him say something under his breath, but she'd already moved to grab a bag for the baked good, and brushed off what must of been a trick of her hearing.

"Uh, would two be alright?" He questioned.

"No problem!"

Marinette grabbed a second cheese croissant and placed it in the paper bag with the other, walking over to the register to ring up his order.

Adrien handed her some cash and grabbed the bag off the counter. "Thanks Marinette! You're a life saver. I, uh... Forgot my lunch at home, so I really wasn't looking forward to going back to the shoot hungry. This will be perfect!"

Marinette gave him a teasing smile. "Oh, so you actually came here hungry this time, did you?" She felt a stupid thread of sadness in her stomach. Last time he'd come, it had simply been to see her, and she couldn't forget how happy that had made her. She mentally berated herself for feeling upset.

Adrien laughed and brought his free hand up to rub the back of his neck. "Yeah, I was definitely hungry this time. But, even so... It was nice getting to see you, too. You cheered me up last time I came, so I figured seeing you today would do the same. Even though I was hungry today... I still wanted to see you."

Marinette's heart went into over drive, her face gathering a deep blush from ear to ear. She cursed her stuttering as she tried to respond. "A-ah, well... I'm really happy I can cheer you up! It was nice seeing you again too!"

Adrien smiled at her, his own blush gently dusted on his cheeks. "I better get back before my break ends, but thanks! See you later, Marinette!" Adrien waved as he opened the door, stepping out into the sun.

Marinette waved as well, bringing her other hand to her chest as it again swelled with happiness, and swore to herself that she would never forget the way he looked in that moment; blond hair shining gold in the sun, a smile lighting up his eyes, and the blush on his face matching the one on her own.


End file.
